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paign was popular then," says Cruz. He

adapted the color scheme and some of

the design elements and blended then-t

into trendy new nrurals.

A custorx-paint job of any kind costs

an average of $15,000-$30,000, so

customers are usually successful busi-

nessnlen or boat builders like Velocity.

lf anyone understands CrJz' s talent, it'sStepp, who hired Cruz as the designer

for all of Velocity's paint lines."When I ask Chris to paint a boat

for the Miar-r-ri Boat Show, I know better

than to give hirn directions, " says Stepp."Chris will do a better job than anyone

else in the U.S. He has revolutionized

custom-boat painting by telling a story

with the paint.""Many boat owners have a tuore spe-

cific idea of what they want, but not how

the overall design will look," CrJZ says.

He enjoys the clrallenge of getting an

owner's idea frotn his lread to lris boat.

Enter Lord of the Wings, Cruz's

favorite work using a 2OO7 Velocity 4LO

for a canvas. Kullen Sourdiff owns the

six-restaurant Fast Boys Wings franchise

in Jacksonville, Florida. Sourdiff wanted

his Velocity to promote his cotnpany and

took sorne Fast Boys brochures to Cruz.

Cruz's first concept sported feathers,

but Sourdiff sugSested a dragon with

scales. The second sketch was right on

the mark. Lord of the WinSs is now the

restaurant's ntascot and a pronlinent

elenrent in Southeastern poker runs.

Cruz's it'nages are colorful art, but

there is elbow

grease in rnaking

his freehand

airbrushing and

h a nd-pa inted

Draf,, N Fever (right)is the name of aL975 Taylorcraft

with medievalmural. Chris Cruz(pictured below)

let the mural flowseamlessly from

deck to freeboard

- and even insidethe bil$e.

pinstripes last. When the artwork is

done, three clear-coat layers are added,

sanded and then repeated and buffed togive the mirror finish and UV protection.

Special formulas are used where neces-

sary to resist stains frotn fuel or oil.

Cruz enjoys boating but doesn't cur-

rently own a boat. So the next obvious

question is this: How would he paint his

own boat? Cruz doesn't hesitate before

sayirg, " Refrigerator wh ite. "

ioneering the defense

industry's rnost advancedweapons systerns depends onfinding innovative solutionsto some of the industry's

most challenging problem a realityembraced by every design program,including the Joint Strike Fighter Electro-Optical Targeting Systern program.

The EOTS is the world's first and

only sensor that cornbines both forwardlooking infrared and infrared search and

track functions. A multifunctional air-to-air and air-to-ground precision targetingsystem, the EOTS will be embedded on

all three variants of the F-35 Lightning IIaircraft. The prograln recently cornpletedthe system design and development phase.

During this period, one of the team's

more challenging obstacles was workingwith Arnorphous Material TransrnittingInfrared, or AMTIR. This is the opticalglass that enables the EOTS system'smultispectral common aperlure.

Essential ComponentryThe AMTIR lens is an essential

component in the EOTS girnbal assembly.

There was only one problern - it didn'twork. Quality testing uncovered numerous

issues with the AMTIR lens, built by a

supplier. These problems occuffed in allparts of the development process, fromrnachining the lens material to handlingand installing it.

"successful deployment of the AMTIRlens was critical to prograln sllccess as

there was not a viable alternative material

or an altemative optical design," said

Steve Rentz, an optical engineer on the

EOTS program in charge of EOTS opticalsystem design. "The AMTIR lens element

basically had to work in order to build an

EOTS that could meet all requirements."To overcome development problems.

the team worked closely with the supplier.Arnorphous Materials Inc., to standardize

their process. This included obtainingAMTIR material with stable. characterizedproperlies; creating a consistent in-house

lens manufacturing process; formulatingan anti-reflection coating; and developinga non-warping technique to mountthe lens.

JSf EOTS team deliverscs,s cntinl AMTIR lcn^

Bi Challen es Invite

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